


Origins of Yesterday

by GateBreaker



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Betrayal, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grim Possibilities, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm dying, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, What-If, Why Did I Write This?, possibilities, seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 09:16:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16553054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GateBreaker/pseuds/GateBreaker
Summary: What if Bran had seen the Red Wedding, the death of his father, of his mother, his brothers…What if he had seen his father’s sword as it gleamed in the sun and the chime of it swinging down his father’s neck.What if he had seen the betrayal suffered by two brothers and the blades that cut them down.What if he had seen the life leaving his mother’s eyes as she screamed and wept for a son lost.What if?





	1. Original

**Author's Note:**

> This was part of an assignment, sort of. I had to do 50 'what ifs'.  
> I'm not entirely happy with it, but I've been going through it for more than a week now and I just can't look at it anymore. I can't.  
> Hope you like it though!  
> English is not my first language, so I apologize for any error or mispelling. If you find any, please give me a head's up.

_It started with a spark._

 

It started with a spark. A little, innocuous, insignificant thought. An idea that spread and learned to fly in the dark horizon of the fallen sun. Hoping to reach and contain and _possess_. Hoping to _breathe_.

It started with a droplet in the sea, a whisper in the wind. With marching feet and sweeping ice.

It started with a trivial ‘what if?’. And then it _grew_.

What if Eddard Stark had told his wife - the woman who birthed his firstborn son, his heir, the woman he loved, or at least was learning, and willing, to love - the truth, the reality, about the suckling babe in his arms, brought back from the war all those years long past. Had explained and grappled and begged for the fragile life that hung in his hands. Had thought to say that he was family, his nephew, his blood. But instead he lied and proclaimed the babe his. He lied and brought forth nothing but resentment and hatred and grief. He lied, and so, the fate of the babe was sealed.

What if he had told the babe the truth. What if the child he took from his mother’s cold embrace knew the truth of his parentage? What if he knew what awaited him out in the world if suspicious whispers reached the wrong ears? Instead he knew nothing, and left it all behind to the cold.

What if Catelyn Stark had been able to love a motherless child? To take in the innocent babe in her husband’s arms and raise him as her own? To love and protect him as she does her children. To set aside grudges and resentful thoughts. To shield him from the dangers that lurked just beyond the walls of _home_. Instead she hated and detested and resented, and it drove him away.

What if Ned had been king instead of Robert? What if, standing in the throne room after the victory over the Targaryens, after their victorious rebellion, Ned took the crown and placed it on his own head. What if he became a good king, a just king, a great king. What if, when the time to raise arms against death came, Westeros was united and prepared?

What if the Iron Islands had not attacked? A child not taken.

What if the stag hadn’t married the lion? Madness would not have succeded.

What if the Red Wedding hadn’t happened? Wolves would have prevailed.

What if Aerys Targaryen hadn’t died? Death would have come long before the King commanded it.

What if Jaime Lannister was too late to save King’s Landing from the king’s insanity?

What if Daenerys Targaryen hadn’t been born?

What if Jon Snow had stayed in Dorne instead of being taken to the cold of the North?

What if Benjen Stark hadn’t taken the black?

What if the Starks hadn’t found the direwolves?

What if Jon Snow hadn’t gone to the Wall?

What if Ned Stark hadn’t died in King’s Landing?

What if Ned had legitimized Jon?

What if Theon Greyjoy hadn’t betrayed Robb?

What if the Bolton’s hadn’t taken Winterfell?

What if Theon hadn’t lied about killing Bran and Rickon?

What if Jon had left the Night’s Watch to help his brother fight the war?

What if dragons had never come back?

What if Littlefinger had been caught when he killed Lysa Arryn?

What if Lysa Arryn had confessed?

What if Baelish had died by Brandon Stark’s hand?

What if Ygritte had not died?

What if Jon had not been betrayed?

What if Ned hadn’t trusted Baelish?

What if Robert hadn’t died?

What if Jon Arryn hadn’t died?

What if Aerys hadn’t killed the Warden of the North and his heir?

What if Catelyn hadn’t taken Tyrion?

What Olenna Tyrell hadn’t poisoned Joffrey?

What is Cersei hadn’t destroyed the Septon and killed everyone within?

What if Khal Drogo had not died?

What if Tommen hadn’t committed suicide?

What if Tywin’s wife had not died?

What if Daenerys had not been warned about the poison?

What if Oberyn had killed the Mountain?

What if Tywin Lannister had loved his son?

What if Daenerys had stayed in Essos?

What if Lyanna Stark had survived to raise her son?

What if Rhaegar had won the battle?

What if the Night King had not existed?

What if the Wall had not been built?

What if Sansa had not been taken by the Boltons?

What if Euron Greyjon had not killed his brother?

What if Arya had not gone to Braavos?

What if Lyanna and Rhaegar had never met?

What if they had run away?

What if Jon Snow had not been brought back from the dead?

What if Bran hadn’t fallen from the Tower?

What if Bran hadn’t gone to the North of the Wall?

What if Bran hadn’t meet the Three Eyed Raven?

What if Bran hadn’t encountered the Reeds?

What if Bran had not seen Lyanna and Rhaegar’s marriage?

What if Bran didn’t have the sight?

What if Bran wasn’t a warg?

What if Bran had died?

What if Hodor had not sacrificed himself so that Meera and Bran could escape? What if Summer hadn’t done the same?

What if Bran – Brandon Stark, son of Eddard Stark, warg, seer, summer child – what if… he never _was_? Not the summer child, not sweet Bran, not the good son, not the good brother… What if Bran had been _different_?

What if Bran had seen the Red Wedding, the death of his father, of his mother, his brothers…

What if he had seen his father’s sword as it gleamed in the sun and the chime of it swinging down his father’s neck.

What if he had seen the betrayal suffered by two brothers and the blades that cut them down.

What if he had seen the life leaving his mother’s eyes as she screamed and wept for a son lost.

What if he had seen his sister’s anguish and hardships, the sharp grin of a flayed man and the cries of a fellow wolf.

What if he had seen the arrow flying free in the sky and the target painted on his little brother’s back.

What if he had seen the anger and despair of his sister and the blade she brandishes like another limb. The death that follows her every step.

What if he had seen: the betrayal, the battles, the hardships, the agony, the grief, the death, the torture. What if he had seen the lies of lions and the threat of claws on wolf skin. Had seen the flesh of fire and how it soars the skies. What if he had seen the rise of the Night King. Had seen the fall of Westeros.

What if… what if he had seen the death of millions, the blood in the snow, the cold that grips the land, the death that comes and never _leaves_.

What if it had _changed_ him?

What if he had seen the downfall of summer warmth over the frozen winds of winter and said _nothing_?

What if Bran knew and told _no one_?

What if Bran had seen and _turned_ his head?

What if Bran had heard the warning bells and _ignored_?

What if Bran had touched and felt the frozen embrace of death and fell _willingly_?

What if.

What if.

What if.

What _if_.

What if Bran had known and done nothing, had seen and said nothing, had heard and aided nothing. Because. Because, because, because, _because_. Because he knew everything and he wanted it to _end_. Because he knew what came next and what came before it. Knew what was to come and what had long come to pass. Knew all and wanted nothing. Seen all and wished it _gone_.

This is not what happened. This has no place in the reality of the Game. There is no point in wallowing in possibilities and opportunities and ‘what ifs’. There is no point in thinking what could have gone different, what could have been changed, what could have been _better_.

There is no point in stopping and doubt and doubt and _doubt_ until your life is not your own anymore, until the uncertainty spreads like a disease and you start losing focus, losing breath, losing _hope._ Until you’re not the one standing in the battlefield when the first rays of a new day, your last day, hits the soil under your feet and the screams of your friends and enemy fill the air. Until there is nothing of you left. Nothing but fear and anger and the raging wildfire coiled tight under skin, waiting to be let out, to hunt, to _feast_. Nothing but the feeling of losing yourself to the storm and getting blown in the wind to lands so far out of reach.

Nothing but the certainty – the _inevitability_ \- that you will never - ever ever ever _ever_ – be _you_ again and that everything – every loss, every pain, every sacrifice and anger and _hurt_ , every battle lost, every breath stolen, every life _taken_ – was for _nothing_.

Because there is only one fact, one reality, that remained true through all these events.

When you play the Game of Thrones you either win or you die.

 

 

_Every wildfire was once a spark._


	2. Edited Version

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I decided to edit the first one and this is the end result. I didn't want to delete the older version altogether though, so I made this a two chapter kind of thing.  
> Hope you like it! ^.^

_It started with a spark._

It started with a spark. A little, innocuous, insignificant thought. An idea that spread and learned to fly in the dark horizon of the fallen sun. Hoping to reach and contain and _possess_. Hoping to _breathe_.

It started with a droplet in the sea, a whisper in the wind. With marching feet and sweeping ice.

It started with a trivial ‘what if?’. And then it _grew_.

What if Eddard Stark had told his wife - the woman who birthed his firstborn son, his heir, the woman he loved, or at least was learning, and willing, to love - the truth, the reality, about the suckling babe in his arms, brought back from the war all those years long past. Had explained and grappled and begged for the fragile life that hung in his hands. Had thought to say that he was family, his nephew, his blood. But instead he lied and proclaimed the babe his. He lied and brought forth nothing but resentment and hatred and grief. He lied, and so, the fate of the babe was sealed.

What if he had told the babe the truth. What if the child he took from his mother’s cold embrace knew the truth of his parentage? What if he knew what awaited him out in the world if suspicious whispers reached the wrong ears? Instead he knew nothing, and left it all behind to the cold.

What if Catelyn Stark had been able to love a motherless child? To take in the innocent babe in her husband’s arms and raise him as her own? To love and protect him as she does her children. To set aside grudges and resentful thoughts. To shield him from the dangers that lurked just beyond the walls of _home_. Instead she hated and detested and resented, and it drove him away.

What if Ned had been king instead of Robert? What if, standing in the throne room after the victory over the Targaryens, after their victorious rebellion, Ned took the crown and placed it on his own head. What if he became a good king, a just king, a great king. What if, when the time to raise arms against death came, Westeros was united and prepared?

What if the Iron Islands had not attacked? A child not taken.

What if the stag hadn’t married the lion? Madness would not have succeeded.

What if the Red Wedding hadn’t happened? Wolves would have prevailed.

What if Aerys Targaryen hadn’t died? Death would have come long before the King commanded it.

What if Jaime Lannister was too late to save King’s Landing from the king’s insanity? What if he had never taken the vows?

What if Jon Snow had stayed in Dorne instead of being taken to the cold of the North? What if Ned had legitimized Jon?

What if Benjen Stark hadn’t taken the black? What if Jon Snow hadn’t done the same?

What if the Starks hadn’t found the direwolves? What if they hadn’t taken them in?

What if Theon Greyjoy hadn’t betrayed Robb? What if he hadn’t lied about killing Bran and Rickon?

What if Jon had left the Night’s Watch to help his brother fight the war? What if his brothers of the Night’s Watch hadn’t stopped him?

What if Ned hadn’t trusted Baelish? What if Lysa Arryn had confessed to the murder of her husband? What if Littlefinger had been caught when he killed Lysa Arryn?

What if the Bolton’s hadn’t taken Winterfell? What if they had not taken Sansa?

What if dragons had never come back? What if Daenerys had stayed in Essos?

What if Arya had not gone to Braavos? What if she hadn’t trained under the Faceless Men?

What if Euron Greyjon had not killed his brother? What if he had not been turned king? What if he hadn’t joined with Cersei Lannister?

What if Catelyn hadn’t taken Tyrion? What if he had died by her hand? What if Tywin Lannister had loved him?

What if Lyanna Stark had survived to raise her child? What if Rhaegar had won the battle? What if Lyanna and Rhaegar had never met? What if they had run away?

What if Jon Snow had not been brought back from the dead? What if Jon had not been betrayed in the first place?

What if some hadn’t died? What if Robert Baratheon hadn’t died? Jon Arryn? Ned Stark in King’s Landing, Oberyn against the Mountain, Joffrey poisoned at his wedding, Rickon with an arrow to the heart. Robb by betrayal, Myrcella by grief, Tommen by despair, Viserys by greed, Tywin by indifference, Khal Drogo by vengeance, Rickard Stark and his heir by madness, Ygritte by love, millions by insanity.

What if some had? Daenarys taken by the poison hidden in a friendly smile or before she could take her first breath, the Mountain brought down by a spiteful viper for vengeance of past misdeeds, Arya overwhelmed by unknown faces alone in a foreign land, Petyr Baelish cut open by the wolf’s fangs in defence of his honor.

What if the Night’s Watch had never been created? What if the Wall had not been built? What if the Night King had never existed?

 

What if…

 

What if Bran hadn’t fallen from the Tower?

What if Bran hadn’t gone to the North of the Wall?

What if Bran hadn’t meet the Three Eyed Raven?

What if Bran hadn’t encountered the Reeds?

What if Bran didn’t have the sight?

What if Bran wasn’t a warg?

What if Bran had died?

What if Hodor had not sacrificed himself so that Meera and Bran could escape? What if Summer hadn’t done the same?

What if Bran – Brandon Stark, son of Eddard Stark, warg, seer, summer child – what if… he never _was_? Not the summer child, not sweet Bran, not the good son, not the good brother… What if Bran had been _different_?

What if Bran had seen the Red Wedding, the death of his father, of his mother, his brothers…

What if he had seen his father’s sword as it gleamed in the sun and the chime of it swinging down his father’s neck.

What if he had seen the betrayal suffered by two brothers and the blades that cut them down.

What if he had seen the life leaving his mother’s eyes as she screamed and wept for a son lost.

What if he had seen his sister’s anguish and hardships, the sharp grin of a flayed man and the cries of a fellow wolf.

What if he had seen the arrow flying free in the sky and the target painted on his little brother’s back.

What if he had seen the anger and despair of his sister and the blade she brandishes like another limb. The death that follows her every step.

What if he had seen: the betrayal, the battles, the hardships, the agony, the grief, the death, the torture. What if he had seen the lies of lions and the threat of claws on wolf skin. Had seen the flesh of fire and how it soars the skies. What if he had seen the rise of the Night King. Had seen the fall of Westeros.

What if… what if he had seen the death of millions, the blood in the snow, the cold that grips the land, the death that comes and never _leaves_.

What if it had _changed_ him?

What if he had seen the downfall of summer warmth over the frozen winds of winter and said _nothing_?

What if Bran knew and told _no one_?

What if Bran had seen and _turned_ his head?

What if Bran had heard the warning bells and _ignored_?

What if Bran had touched and felt the frozen embrace of death and fell _willingly_?

What if.

What if.

What if.

What _if_.

What if Bran had known and done nothing, had seen and said nothing, had heard and aided nothing. Because. Because, because, because, _because_. Because he knew everything and he wanted it to _end_. Because he knew what came next and what came before it. Knew what was to come and what had become legend. Knew all and wanted nothing. Seen all and wished it _gone_.

This is not what happened. This has no place in the reality of the Game. There is no point in wallowing in possibilities and opportunities and ‘what ifs’. There is no point in thinking what could have gone different, what could have been changed, what could have been _better_.

There is no point in stopping and doubt and doubt and _doubt_ until your life is not your own anymore, until the uncertainty spreads like a disease and you start losing focus, losing breath, losing _hope._ Until you’re not the one standing in the battlefield when the first rays of a new day, your last day, hits the soil under your feet and the screams of your friends and enemy fill the air. Until there is nothing of you left. Nothing but fear and anger and the raging wildfire coiled tight under skin, waiting to be let out, to hunt, to _feast_. Nothing but the feeling of losing yourself to the storm and getting blown in the wind to lands so far out of reach.

Nothing but the certainty – the _inevitability_ \- that you will never - ever ever ever _ever_ – be _you_ again and that everything – every loss, every pain, every sacrifice and anger and _hurt_ , every battle lost, every breath stolen, every life _taken_ – was for _nothing_.

Because there is only one fact, one reality, that remained true through all these events.

When you play the Game of Thrones you either win or you die.

 

_Every wildfire was once a spark._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and drop down a comment if there's anything you think I should change. ^.^

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it and thanks for reading! ^.^


End file.
